Gold-saving device.



A. BAYTON.

GOLD SAVING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26. 1911.

Patented June 4, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

:O O i INVENTOR A Bafyfiarz A TTOR/VEYS A. BAYTON. GOLD SAVING DEVICE.

APPLICATION man SEPT. 26. 1911.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

t T Q n 1' v Q l g 22 a M M T N J4 l 1 I WITNESSES INVENTOR flBa mforz v By ,pi

.- -x r ATTORIVF/S Patented June 4, 1918'.

invention. Y

ED ATEShATENT OF eminent BAYTON, or MANILA, PHILIPPINE rsnanns.

conn-savme Dev ce,

To all whom it may concern: a

Be it known that I, ARTHUR Barron, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Manila, Philippine Islands, haveinvented a new and Improved Gold-Saving Device, of which the following is a tull, clear, and exact description: The prime object of myx'invention is to provide'disintegrating means. to be employed in connection with sluice boxes, m'ore pan ticularly the sluice boxes of' gold dredges and so' arranged as to break up and reduce all clay and sticky gold-bearing material so that the same can be thoroughly washed and be made to give up any gold that it contains before passing'overzthe tail of the box. The stated object is attained'by a disintegrating wheel disposed in the sluice box so as to be directly in the path of the material passing through the box, in a manner to require that the material be broken up in order to pass the disintegrating wheel. 'Otherobjects of the invention and the'nature thereof'aswell as importantappurtenames of the same and the advantages will clearly appear: as" the description proceeds.

Reference is to be had-to the accompanying drawings forming apart of this specifi. cation in which" similar referencefcharacters indicate corresponding =.parts in' all the views, it beingunderstood that the drawings are merely illustrative of one example of'the Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a portion of a sluice box equippedwwith my invention;

Fig.2 is a transverse vertical section on the line 2--2, Fig. 1;

-Fig.-3 is a sectional plan view given to show one practical manner of arranging the T knives and subordinate elements on the face of the wheel;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a detail to be hereinafter referred to. g

It is to be understood that the invention is applicable to any approved sluice box 10 or the like, through which the gold-bearing material is sluiced. In the sluice box 10 I dispose a disintegrating wheel designated generally by the numeral 11 and here shown as turning on a base plate 12, a Wedgeshaped shim 13 being employed beneath the base plate to level the wheel. The base plate 12 is secured on the bottom of the sluice box in any suitable manner as by bolts 12. The wheel 11 is mounted on an upright shaft 14 raten'taiaa e 4, 1918.

Application filed September 28:, 1917. enial 110193332.

to which, in practice, said wheel is both keyed and shrunk, said shaft extending through'a boss 15 in the base plate 12,the base having a gland ld. I Cast integral withthe wheel, or otherwise produced in'fixed relation thereto, are knives 17, there being advantageously two annular series of the knives and each knife tapering toward its forward edge and preferably having a rounded back surface 17 struck from the center of the wheel. merely indicatethe arbitrary surface formation of the disintegrating wheel which aside from the'knives'17 will be iveninpractice any suitable form to pr'orfuce the desired Thenumerals 18,19

strengthwith lightness. .It is to be wider i;

stood: thatthe height of the knives 17 will vary with the geological formation from which theimaterial istakem The material is delivered to the sluice box at the forward side of the wheel 11 by a drop chute 20, and the Wheel extends the full width of the/box so that thematerial received from the chute 20 in order to pass through the wheel must be thoroughlybrokenup by the knives 17.

The wheel it is to be'observed, forms part of the "sluice boxsurface'at the bottom, and interru-pts the regular continuity of the box only in presenting a revolving barrier in the path of flow of the material, requiring the material toj flow'across the face of the wheel and through a field of' revolving disintegrating elements perpendicular to the path ofllow, and cutting said path and therefore repeatedly cuttingthe "material, by cutting movements in opposite directions across the flow as *thematerialrpasses over the wheel from the near side, across the center, to the opposite-Side; Thus, .anylsticky-matter will be disi'ntegrated'and brought to a fluid form such as to be easily washed for saving any gold therein that would otherwise be lost. The employment of my disintegrating wheel may be made to do away with the screen now largely used on dredges, thereby giving more table space, or if the screen be used the wheel will do away with the high pressure water nozzles providing the wheel is placed ahead of the screen. Thus, a largesaving is made in the pump power used in the washmg.

In order to protect the disintegrating wheel from being damaged by any large rocks or stones, I rovide a series of bars 21 disposed longitu inally in the box at the wheel and above the same. The bars may be employed in anvsuitable number and at a distance apart depending on the widthof the sluice box and'the'capacity'dfthe buckets delivering the material thereto. fllhe bars, are supported in any suitable manheras' r61 ex mp e at the ewe iefl On a rq i ar extendingbetweeii" the sides of theboxand at the upper end in abraoket23 shown best in Fig. 4, the bracket being forked to receive the barb The numerah24l indicates side plates on the sluiceladjacent t'o the wheel 11 and-protective bars=21 to take the wear and protect the sides ofthe box.

it will be obvious that thew-heel? may be driven in any' s'uitablermanner, the means shown being found eflicient for the purpose to drive the'wheelat' approximately 500 rev? olutiohs per-minute 'Thus,the lower end ofthetshaft 14 turn in a bracket 25 on one of two hangers 26 "and 1a bevel pinio'n; 27 on the shaft vmeshes with: the bevel 3 gear; wheel 28- on a drive'shaft 29 turning in bearings 30 in the hangers 26 and :driven in any-suitable manner, there being shown 1 pulleys 31. to receive power from a-"belt' 32 which may be driven from vany convenientsource of power (not shown).= g 5 v Iwish tostatein conclusion-thatalthou'gh the illustrated example constitutes a practical embodiment :of my invention,-'-I do not limit myselfstrictly tothe mechanical details herein illustrated, since manifestly the same can be'considerably varied without dethereof Patent: r

,2.'In'an'apparatusEof a d sintegrating wheel, to 'in ount the same in a sluice box to range transversely acrossthe-saine at) tl'1e b6ttonn and form part of. the, bottom surface, and disintegratin elements disposed about the upper face or fliewhe l n projecting p ardlyefrom perpendicularly to the flow 'ofmaterial passing throughthegsluice box to intercept and break up the material directed to the wheel. W

3. Theicombinatiom with assluice? box, of a disintegrating wheel"turn'ingi approximately horizontally therein on: the? bot'toin fthereo f, nieans to zdrive said wheel, and spaced :protectivelibars disposed above; the iwheel. and extending from a point beyond the front thereof to the 5 opposite sidel of the.;wheel to a carry frocks pastthe; latter to' prevent-Idem;

age toathe wheel; I a v1. The" combination :with a sluic'e box, of a drop-chute therein, a: -disintegrating wheel in thesluiceboXat-the bottom and disposed across the same. at the loweriend of the said drop chute, means to drive the said :disinte grating wheel; and spaced protective bars 'mou'n-ted lthe sluice box longitudinally thereof above'the sa'id disintegrating wheel. 1 5. An apparatus ofi the. class described,-"ineluding -asluice ibOX, and adisintegrating wheel mounted in the-"sluicebox and extending transversely aoross'the same-at the bottom to .:constitute -atpor'ti'on .of E'the: bottom Surface of the z sluice and over "whichw the material Iwill i be required to flow: in passing said; wheel, said'wheel having disintegrating elementsxprojecting-from its upper surface per pejndi eular to the-direction of the pathof flow =-of= the= material: passing-f through i the sluiceiboxfiandmeans to revolve said wheel tocause the disintegratingelements .:to be rn'ovedin; opposite directions across, the flow:- in

material as the latter passes'over the surface of thewheel 'frorn one side thereof to .7 Aurel e environ:

(iopiesvvofthisLpatentmay,be ohtainefilforflve gents each, by addresslngjhe f coininissioner'of; 

